Lunch and Learn with Rabbi Deborah Waxman: Dancing with Particularism and Universalism in Jewish Peoplehood
We are thrilled to welcome Rabbi Deborah Waxman, President and CEO of Reconstructing Judaism to JRC for a Shabbat filled with learning and community. Join us following JRC’s Lay Led Multi-Access Minyan for a Lunch and Learn with Rabbi Deborah: Dancing with Particularism and Universalism in Jewish Peoplehood
How can we be joyfully and robustly Jewish and also be responsible and engaged citizens of the planet? How can we embrace Jewish particularism and universalism at the same time? How can we be part of the Jewish “tribe” without descending into tribalism?
These questions were as pressing for Mordecai Kaplan, his contemporaries in the 1940’s, and the origins of our movement as they are for us today. We will explore the origins of classical Reconstructionist commitments to democracy, peoplehood, and rejecting chosenness, their relevance to us today and ongoing efforts to reconstruct them to help us to live engaged and ethical lives.
Our Scholar-In-Residence Weekend with Rabbi Deborah includes:
Friday, June 5, 7:00 pm: Rabbi Deborah joins Lakefront Shabbat to give our D’var Torah and will present JRC member Jonathan Markowitz with the Reconstructing Judaism President’s Award
Saturday, June 6, 10:00 am: Rabbi Deborah will join JRC’s Multi-Access Lay Led Minyan service and will lead an interactive D’var Torah Discussion on Parshat Beha’alotcha
Saturday, June 6, 12:30 pm: Lunch and Learn with Rabbi Deborah: Dancing with Particularism and Universalism in Jewish Peoplehood
Sunday, June 7, 10:00 am: Rabbi Deborah joins our Pride Kickoff Brunch
Rabbi Deborah Waxman Ph.D. is the first woman Rabbi to head a Jewish congregational union and a Jewish seminary, Rabbi Deborah has served as president and chief executive officer of Reconstructing Judaism since 2014. Since then, she has drawn on her training as a rabbi and historian to be the Reconstructionist movement’s leading voice in the public square. Waxman is a cum laude graduate of Columbia College, Columbia University, and was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She earned a Ph.D. in American Jewish history from Temple University. In August, she will conclude her tenure with Reconstructing Judaism after 12 years of leadership.
